Today marks the first day of our 2021 trip down to Mexico. My dad (Jeff) and I (Suzi) started our day early this morning doing last minute preparation and finishing loading the trailer. We made one more last minute trip to Walmart and replaced the battery for Clifford the Big Red Van since it decided to die overnight.

Around noon we drove over to La Reforma to meet up with some of this year’s Aljaba Travelers. Wendy, Sandy, Frank, Jackson, Brenda, and Crystal met up with us for some delicious tacos before loading up in our vehicles and starting the first part of our drive.

First we drove to Los Lunas to pick up Angelo, and then down to NMSU in Las Cruces to pick up Elli. From there we headed to El Paso to check into our hotel for the night.

We had to pick up the last 4 travelers at the airport, so a few of us went out for a late dinner while we waited for their flights to arrive.

After picking up Jill, Aidan, David and Adam we headed back to the hotel for some La Reforma beer, homemade cookies and a meet and greet. Just as a quick note, all travelers this year had to be fully vaccinated, and many of us received our third booster shots too. We are lucky that we can have a more normal trip this year, and we want to stay on the safe side.

Now we’re all going to bed to rest up for a long day of traveling tomorrow. We have to get up early and start driving to the border! More updates of what we are up to will be posted tomorrow!